


Dark Reflection

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [93]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Case Fic, Ghosts, M/M, Prompt Fill, Transformation, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27113278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for Urban Legends prompt:Hawaii Five-0, any, if you say her name she'll appear in the mirror behind you (feel free to change up the pronouns as needed)In which the team takes on a vengeful mirror ghost, and Bethany approaches the problem in her own unique way.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [93]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610332
Comments: 16
Kudos: 42
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020, Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	Dark Reflection

**Author's Note:**

> Also written for h/c bingo: purgatory

“That’s an urban legend,” Kono said, booted feet propped up on the chair next to hers. “Like the Hookman, or Bigfoot.”

Danny stopped his pacing so he could properly glare at her. “You tell that to my terrified daughter.”

Kono held her hands up. “I didn’t say she was lying. Maybe one of the other kids was just playing a trick on her.”

“I saw it too,” Bethany said. She was sitting at the far end of the conference table, looking unusually subdued. “It really happened.”

“Most urban legends are rooted in a factual event,” Chin said. “It just gets altered and distorted with time and retellings. Like that old telephone game. Everyone adds an embellishment.”

Danny was still getting used to a wider world of supernatural phenomenon, and up till now that world hadn’t touched Grace at all. At least not that he was aware of. Wasn’t it enough to have to worry about pedophiles and axe murderers without having to throw in magic and possibly werewolves and the boogeyman?

“So how do we do this?” Steve asked, all business as usual. “We need to keep the encounter as controlled as possible.”

Chin consulted his laptop. “We’ll need candles. No electric light.”

“There’s a whole box in the storage room,” Kono said.

Danny’s used bookstore being their hub of operations also meant that half of his store room was dedicated to Chin’s electronic thingies and things they might need for an investigation, like salt and flashlights and fire starters and some magical potions.

“We’ll need a good-sized mirror,” Danny said. “Unless we all want to cram into the bathroom and use the little one over the sink.”

Kono laughed. “Pass. My auntie has an old mirror she’s been trying to get rid of. I’ll bring it over tonight.”

She and Chin left together, and Danny wandered back up to the front of the store. It was still two hours till closing, but he didn’t anticipate anyone coming in. Jerry had already been by that week, trolling for conspiracy theory titles, and it was Saturday. People had better things to do than look at old books.

“Is Gracie okay?” Steve asked, trailing after Danny and then leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.

“She had to sleep with the light on last night,” Danny said with a sigh. “It’ll probably take her a few days to get over feeling scared.”

He wanted to throttle whatever wise-ass kid thought it would be fun to invoke an unhappy spirit in his daughter’s presence. Grace had gone to a birthday party for one of her friends, a sleepover, and where the hell had that girl’s parents been? Danny supposed he should be glad they hadn’t busted out a Ouija board.

Steve lowered his voice. “What was Bethany doing there?”

“Bored,” Danny replied. 

That was only part of it. Bethany went through moody periods, missing her family and missing her life, so sometimes she’d tag along with Grace even though Grace couldn’t see her, or even knew she was party of Danny’s life.

“Did she try talking to the girl?” Steve asked. 

“You could just ask me, you know,” Bethany replied crossly. She appeared on top of the counter, legs dangling. “And no, I didn’t. She was scary.”

“But you –” Steve started to say, but Danny make a slashing gesture at him. “I mean, you’re Five-0. We don’t get scared by that stuff.”

Danny snorted. “Speak for yourself, thank you very much. I find this stuff terrifying.”

Bethany’s lips twitched up, almost a grin.

“Come on,” Danny said. “Let’s go to Steve’s place. He can cook dinner.” 

Steve made the expected complaints about that, but Danny could tell he was secretly pleased.

“Cool. I can sit by the beach.” Bethany hopped off the counter.

They closed up the bookstore together, and Danny couldn’t help thinking how much they felt like a little family. Two dads and a ghost daughter. It sounded like a really bad sitcom.

*o*o*o*

It was after dark when everyone reconvened in the bookstore. Chin carried in Kono’s auntie’s old mirror, which had a huge, heavy mahogany frame, and leaned it against the shelves at the very rear of the store. Kono laid down a salt circle around it while Danny and Steve lit about a dozen white pillar candles. Once the lights went off the ambiance increased exponentially.

“You look less cranky by candlelight,” Steve murmured in Danny’s ear.

“Keep your head in the game, lothario,” Danny replied. But he reached out and gave Steve’s hand a squeeze.

Once everything was set up, the five of them stood just outside the salt line, ranged in a semi-circle around the mirror. Kono was the one to speak the invocation.

“Scary Soohyang. Scary Soohyang. Scary Soohyang.”

The candle flames dipped and flickered, as if a wind had blown through the room, and then the spirit appeared in the mirror.

“Jesus,” Danny said, wincing. 

The spirit was a young Korean woman, that much they knew from the research. But seeing her up close and personal, that was something else. She had long, black hair partially obscuring her face, which was pale almost to the point of translucence, and she was wearing a long-sleeved white dress. She looked like she’d just ripped the throat out of a live animal, blood and gore running down her chin.

“Now what?” Steve asked, his voice hushed.

“Now we try to get her to move on,” Danny replied. 

Soohyang just stared at them, which was very creepy.

“The _gwisin_ are trapped because they have unfinished business,” Chin explained.

“Isn’t that same of every, uh –” Kono broke off, looking over at Bethany.

“Cripes! Yes, I’m a ghost! You don’t all have to keep dancing around it!” Bethany pushed back her hood and looked defiantly at Danny. “And I’m supposed to be helping, so here’s me helping.”

Before Danny could protest, Bethany moved forward to the edge of the salt line. She looked down in consternation.

“I need to get through.”

“Absolutely not,” Danny said.

“Be careful,” Steve said at exactly the same time, and dragged the toe of his boot through the salt.

“Hey! No!”

It was too late. Bethany passed into the mirror, or that mirror-space Soohyang was inhabiting. The glass immediately went dark, not showing any reflection at all.

Danny punched Steve in the arm. “What the hell did you do that for? What’s wrong with you? She’s just a kid!”

“She’s not, though,” Kono said. “Five-0 is a team, and we each bring something unique to the table. Let Bethany use her strengths to help.”

Danny wasn’t about to argue with Kono, because she’d kick his ass, so he just kept glaring at Steve.

“She’s right, Danny,” Steve said. “If she’s not living up to her potential, she could turn into a vengeful spirit, too. None of us wants that. Let her do some good if she can.”

It was logical, but that didn’t mean Danny had to like it. Having a ghost attached to him didn’t come with any instructions or clear guidelines. They were just figuring things out as they went. But the idea of Bethany turning into a spirit like Scary Soohyang was wrong in so many ways. She deserved better. 

She deserved Heaven, and neither she nor Danny had any idea why she wasn’t already there.

“Anything could be happening in there!” Danny said, huffing out a frustrated breath. “What if she gets trapped? What if –”

Bethany slipped out of the mirror.

“Bye, Soohyang! Good luck!”

The girl in the mirror didn’t look scary anymore. She was still very pale, but the blood was gone and her hair was done up in those weird buns on the top of her head that were vaguely reminiscent of Mickey Mouse ears. The white dress had been replaced with what looked like a school uniform.

“Bye, Bethany! _Haengsyo_!”

Soohyang vanished from the mirror.

“Did you just stop a vengeful spirit by giving her a makeover?” Danny asked incredulously.

Bethany rolled her eyes. “Seriously? I gave her a purpose. That’s why she was stuck in purgatory like that. She never got to do the things she needed to do.”

Kono looked impressed. “So what’s she going to do now?”

“She’s still stuck in the mirror, but now she can help girls who don’t like the way they look. Like an invisible cheerleader. There’s a lot of pressure on girls to look a certain way, you know. It’s toxic.”

“You did all that in five minutes?” Steve asked.

“Time works a little different in there. It was longer.” Bethany sidled up to Danny. “Can you download some music for me, Danno? Pretty please?”

While the team blew out the candles and cleared away the salt, Bethany gave Danny a whole list of K-pop bands she wanted to listen to, starting with Astro.

Danny was so proud of her, and so relieved she hadn’t gotten stuck in the mirror, that he’d have agreed to anything.

There’d be plenty of time for regrets later, when Grace found his search history and questioned why he was looking at so many pictures of young, pretty Korean boys.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** I don’t know a whole lot about spirits that live in mirrors, like Bloody Mary, but that sure seems like purgatory to me. I thought it would be fun to turn things around for Soohyang, give her a chance to do something positive in the mirror. And maybe earn her way out of there.
> 
> Thanks to nagi_schwarz for her help with this fic, and for inspiring me to go with a Korean ghost!


End file.
